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Monday, August 2, 2010

ultimate

A couple weeks ago I started playing ultimate frisbee. I've wanted to try it for years so when a friend asked me to accompany her to a pick-up game, I agreed and we had a great time. The next day my back spasms reminded me how careful I need to be. Thankfully they were mild and abated after 48 hours.

I'm in nowhere near good enough shape to play against these twenty-somethings. I carry around about 30 lbs. of surplus fat so sprinting up and down a soccer field for 15 minutes is enough to kill me. I did that about 30 times yesterday and today I feel like I could eat a side of beef and might benefit from a blood transfusion. Amazingly my back is fine.

Some people at the night session were really impressed with my long range forehand throw. One dude said, "your throw doesn't make sense; I mean that in a good way." Might be because my shots sometimes seem to gain speed halfway through their trajectory, after the wobble from the release has dissipated. Maybe it's because the trajectory is so flat. I do get a crazy amount of spin.

Yesterday was nearly perfect weather for almost any outdoor activity. The wind seemed to be coming from the East off the ocean so it never felt terribly hot. I didn't get a chance to warm up my arm so I spent most of the session making short passes and pretending to play defense against a cute redhead girl. There were only two women there today. The blond organizer gal grew up in Mozambique; her parents are linguists. I don't think she believed me when I told her I had lived in Kenya when I was a kid.